Density, power, concentration, this is a full on Pauillac, with a ton of cassis and blueberry, liquorice, espresso, cocoa bean, with an intense muscular tannic frame. Precise architecture, it delivers on the promise that has been building for several years - muscular, ripped, will power for decades. 70% new oak.

In the running for the greatest vintage ever from this château, the 2009 Château Lynch-Bages is pure Pauillac magic, offering a powerful bouquet of blackcurrants, freshly sharpened pencils, smoked tobacco, and gravelly earth. It's full-bodied, has a concentrated, structured mouthfeel, building yet beautifully integrated tannins, and a great, great finish. It's just now at the early stages of its prime drinking window and has another 30 years of prime drinking ahead of it. I wish I'd bought more on release.

Performing even better from bottle than it did from barrel, this appears to be the finest Lynch Bages since the 2000, 1990 and 1989. According to the chateau, the 2009 has the highest level of polyphenols ever measured as well as high alcohol (nearly 13.5%). A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest largely Merlot with touches of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it is an expressive, voluptuously textured effort with unctuosity and powerful, juicy, succulent blackberry and black currant flavors, low acids, a layered, massive mouthfeel, but no sense of heaviness or fatigue. This exquisite Lynch Bages should drink well for 30+ years.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #199, Feb 2012)

96 - The medium to deep garnet colored 2009 Lynch Bages is boldly scented of crème de cassis, blackberry pie and baked plums with chocolate box, incense and underbrush suggestions plus a waft of bay leaves. Medium to full-bodied, taut and well sustained in the mouth, it has a firm, grainy texture and a lively backbone lifting the black fruit core to a nice long finish. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, March 2019

Tight and backward, this has dense, almost chewy layers of fig, currant and plum cake behind a very solid wall of cedar, roasted vanilla and charcoal notes. There's serious grip on the finish, with an iron edge that won't quit. Best from 2015 through 2035. JM

A powerful and ripe wine with a wide-screen personality, this makes a very bold statement without becoming a jot heavy. Serious tannins at the long finish suggest this has long-term aging potential. Drink now with a big steak or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019) - Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com, March 2019

The medium to deep garnet colored 2009 Lynch Bages is boldly scented of crème de cassis, blackberry pie and baked plums with chocolate box, incense and underbrush suggestions plus a waft of bay leaves. Medium to full-bodied, taut and well sustained in the mouth, it has a firm, grainy texture and a lively backbone lifting the black fruit core to a nice long finish.

Quality 905 | Brand 997 | Economics 937 | buzz brand, investment staple
Quality: Above the average quality score of its peer group for the 2009 vintage, 788 Brand: #3 strongest restaurant presence on Wine Lister, featuring on 54 of the world's top wine lists, including Auberge du Soleil Economics: Below its peer group average price of £116 for the 2009 vintage Production: Older vines than its peer group average of 32 years

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017

Bright ruby-red. Very pure, perfumed aromas of blackberry and licorice. Dense, generous and deep if youthfully tightly wound, with sweet black fruit flavors nicely framed by sound acidity. Finishes with serious tannic clout and complex saline and peppery notes. An extremely backward and very impressive Lynch Bages for serious cellaring.

The 2009 Lynch-Bages has an intense bouquet which is more forward than Grand Puy Lacoste, albeit without the same complexity. Layers of blackberry, bilberry, brine and a touch of graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannin, slightly lower in acidity than the 2010 Lynch Bages, dense and quite sinewy towards the finish. It might miss the class of its peers but you cannot help but admire the brawn underneath its aristocratic coat. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits' Ten Year On tasting. - vinous.com, March 2019

(a blend of 76% cabernet sauvignon, 18% merlot, 4% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot; 13.4% alcohol; pH 3.64; 93 IPT) Inky purple. Sexy, forward aromas of red cherry, cassis, minerals and violet; very Pauillac. Then rich and lush, with impressive volume to its ripe, creamy strawberry, cedar and chocolate flavors. As full and sweet as this is, it can seem almost chunky at first, but thanks to harmonious acids, which nicely extend the flavors on the back, it does not leave any impression of excess weight. In fact, this finishes rather easygoing, even though serious tannins are present to provide adequate backbone and aging potential. A classic example of an '09 Bordeaux that will be ready to drink far sooner than usual but should also hold up well for another 20 years after that.

76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Aged for 15 months in oak barrels (70% new). Big, deep, black colour. Reserved but generous nose that shows considerable depth. Svelte attack, the tannins powerful but refined and enrobed in succulent fruit. Seductive now but still very much a baby. A complete wine with huge potential. (JL)

[76CS/18M/4CF/2PV] Dense, crisp, minerally, ripe red and blackcurrant fruit on the nose, complex and aromatic; rich, compact wine, firm in tannin, firm in acidity round a juicily ripe, red and blackcurrant fruit, pure, taut, firmer style within the vintage; long and juicy and subtle within the Pauillac muscle, but without coarseness, and with fine aromatic and fruit length. Here again that fine, concentrated fruit core of the best 2009's. A fine, fairly long term Lynch Bages. 2022-40

Slightly vegetal nose. Very smooth with tannins evident only on the very end of the palate. Just a tad stodgy with a menthol note. Not that persistent. (JR)